Hat trick? For those of you who don't follow sports as closely as I do, the hat trick in hockey is when one player scores three times during a single game. How does that apply to my efforts to get published?
My dream was to score big with Piercing Through by marketing it as a young adult novel. The reason I chose the young adult audience is that there is no denying it's a very hot category. Landing a publishing deal with one of the bigger publishing giants in young adult would get you three scores; the hardback edition, the trade paperback and finally the mass paperback. Yes, I was aiming high, a little greedily I might add.
However, Kendra's latest correspondence has put a damper on that dream. Here's what she said:
"Hi Robbie,
Thanks for your patience in awaiting my response to PIERCING THROUGH. I really enjoyed discovering how your writing style differs between the picture book manuscript I’d read before and this much older piece. But what remains the same is your vivid imagination and your dark sensibility. You’ve got a great flair for the macabre, and in this manuscript, you’ve given yourself much more room to play and explore different morbidly fascinating details of Kelly’s world.
But I’m afraid I have to agree with Kelly Sonnack’s comment that PIERCING THROUGH is not appropriate for a YA audience. The content is just too graphic, from Alma ’s perversions to what happens to Kelly when she “pierces through.” I just can’t imagine a librarian or a bookseller feeling comfortable recommending this book to a teen reader. I think your best bet may be to target this for the adult market instead.
I hope this is helpful, and I’m sorry if it’s not the response you were hoping for. You’re a talented writer and I know you’ll find the right direction to take this manuscript!"
Paragraph 2 says it all. Now that I've had 2 professionals, one a Viking editor, another my former agent who ditched me after deciding she couldn't market my novel as young adult, maybe it's time for me to face the music and market Piercing Through as adult horror.
In reality, the story began as an adult piece, and perhaps it will become so once again. My hesitation to market it as adult came from the fact that horror is not a viable genre at the moment. If your last name isn't Barker, King or Koontz you're out of luck landing a hardcover deal. That means at best Piercing Through will be relegated to the mass paperback field. Not that that's a bad thing. Just getting my foot in the door will be a major accomplishment.
As I contemplate marketing Piercing Through as adult horror I'm faced with another problem. The word count is too small for an adult sized novel. I'm roughly 10,000 words shy of the average adult novel length. That's about 40 typed pages. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me. As soon I finish this post I must apply myself to the task of revision. 40 more pages? Any ideas? Anyone?
Sample chapters of Piercing Through as well as some of my other work can be found at my website:
rjfanucchiwriting.ws
AgentQuery.com is an excellent resource for writers to meet other writers as well as possible agents and publishers. Check out my profile at the end of this post and join me there.
Hi Robbie: I've been following your blog for awhile and have just re-read your first chapter to refresh my memory. I agree that you may have set your sights too high in the beginning of your marketing quest, but now it's good that you're following the advice of your former agent and the editor...it's not YA material. So, as you move on, may I offer you a word of advice: hire an editor who is familiar with the genre you've chosen for your book and have them tell you what is right, but more importantly what is wrong. You have been lucky to get as much advice as you've received in today's market. Editors are inundated and seldom offer advice anymore.
ReplyDeleteI am the editor of PI Magazine (www.pimagazine.com) and mostly do non-fiction material. However, I do have some experience with fiction writing (nothing published yet) and would advise you to begin the book with the sentence where the girl is screaming "She's pierced through!" That will hook the reader because we want to know what the heck that means. Much more interesting, I think. Also, as I quickly read through the first chapter I got tired of reading the words "pierced through". Perhaps you can tighten the writing and give those words more importance by using them less and incorporating the description into the story more. But my main advice is to hire an editor to give you an overview of what needs to be tightened to give you a better chance in the market place.
Oh--in case you're wondering, I saw that you knew my nephew Michael Bright. There was a mention of your writing and I recognized your family name from my years of living in Siletz. So I had to check out your blog. :-) I hope something in this message will help you. Good luck! (My blog: http:www.fortheloveoffamilyhistory.blog.com and my personal/business website: www.cluesonline.com
Grace, thanks for the kind advice. I'll definitely give it some thought. I'm just now reading this comment as I've kind of tuned out my blog for the past two months.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right that I've been lucky getting the comments from editors and for a while being represented by a good agent. But I hope my fortune hasn't ended there. I keep fueling the dream.
Michael Bright's aunt? Small world. I take it you're no longer living in Siletz.